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The View from Down Under: Is Battleground A Wasted Opportunity?

by Craig Higham - October 02, 2013

With Battleground just a couple of days away, I feel the WWE has missed a golden opportunity to do something special with a brand new pay per view. But what has happened instead……we have gotten a card full of things we have seen before. With the exception of the Rhodes Familyvs. The Shield, the card looks very familiar, an Orton vs. Bryan match, ADR vs. RVD, Punk vs. Ryback, Ziggler vs. Ambrose, Aj Lee vs. Brie Bella and Curtis Axel vs. R-Truth which we saw last week.

With the WWE title currently vacant, the WWE could of given us an unique WWE title match, such as revisiting the ‘Championship Scramble’ or given us a tournament style pay per view. Either option would have given a brand new pay per view a edge and uniqueness to it.

So far the Battleground pay per view is no different to previous pay per views such as Unforgiven, No Mercy, Backlash, No Way Out or Judgement Day. While I’m happy it is not a themed Pay per view as we already have enough of them, a brand new pay per view with no current champion needed could have had something special in its first year of existence.

If we look at the current superstars involved in the Triple H abusing power story line, we could easily come up with 5 superstars needed for a championship scramble match that would give those superstars a main event match as a reward for their work since Summer Slam.

Obviously Randy Orton and Daniel Bryan would be the automatic first two choices to be included in the scramble match, as well as adding in the likes of The Big Show, Cody Rhodes and The Miz. These 5 superstars have been the main players in the major story line, and the match itself can be open for interference and favouritism by Triple H or Stephanie.

You could have DanielBryan being forced to be the first in the ring, interference by The Shield throughout the match and even have The Big Show forced by Stephanie to lay down for Randy Orton near the end of the match to still keep current storylines running. This would allow for a small break in the Orton / Bryan feud leading up to their finale at Hell in a Cell.

Other options for the match could include Dean Ambrose, Dolph Ziggler and Kofi Kingston.

With RVD possibly taking some time off, and Alberto Del Rio not currently drawing that well, a World Heavyweight Championship scramble match may have worked as an alternative and keep the Orton/Bryan feud to themselves. With RVD and Alberto Del Rio headlining the superstars involved, introducing Damien Sandow to improve his profile as a future world heavyweight champion (he has been missing from both RAW and Smackdown lately), as well as the likes of Christian and Kofi Kingston to round out the 5. Christian would add credibility to the match as a previous world heavyweight champion, and it would give Kofi Kingston a chance to show if he is indeed ready to make the next step.

If the WWE is not yet ready to return to the scramble, then turning the initial Battleground into a tournament style PPV would have worked just as well. Again we can have all those superstars currently being used in the current major story line involved in the tournament, as well as still include the world heavyweight championship match and the Punk / Ryback grudge match to break up the tournament. My tournament would look something like this:

Daniel Bryan

vs. Daniel Bryan

Seth Rollins

vs. Daniel Bryan

Kofi Kingston

vs. Roman Reigns

Roman Reigns

……………………………………………………………………………..vs. Winner ?

Dean Ambrose

vs. Dolph Ziggler

Dolph Ziggler

vs. Randy Orton

The Big Show

vs. Randy Orton

Randy Orton

The Big Show could be forced to lay down for Randy Orton, adding to Triple H’s dominance over him and giving Randy Orton a free run into the next round where he would be fresh, and the Ambrose and Ziggler match could still be for the US title. After the first round of matches the World Heavyweight Championship match could take place.

Ambrose could cost Ziggler his semi-final match against Orton continuing the Ziggler / Ambrose feud to be finalised at Hell in the Cell, and Daniel Bryan could be attacked by all members of The Shield causing the disqualification but leaving fans unsure whether Bryan can continue. The CM Punk and Ryback’s match to be next on the card after the semi-finals.

As for the winner? It could either go Triple H costing Bryan the win, or The Miz costing Orton the win, either way this leads into Hell in the Cell being the last match between these two which is what a Hell in a Cell match should be.

Let me know which you would prefer to have seen, or what idea you would have made for our very first Battleground PPV.